The quality of cosmetic containers, such as lipstick containers, is often indicative of the quality of the cosmetic contained therein. From the consumer's standpoint, a high quality lipstick container has a certain "feel" to it, rotating freely due to its relatively low swivel torque but having enough "resistance" or torque to feel "sturdy". It is within this range of preferred torque which cosmetic companies strive to achieve when crafting cosmetic containers.
Conventional lipstick containers include a cosmetic carrier, a tubular inner sleeve, a tubular outer sleeve and a decorative sleeve. The cosmetic carrier supports the lipstick and is generally configured as a sleeve having radially extending lugs on opposing sides and is received within the inner sleeve. The inner sleeve defines longitudinally extending channels on opposing sides wherein the lugs of the cosmetic carrier extend therethrough. An outer sleeve defining a continuous helical channel is positioned about the inner sleeve wherein the lugs of the cosmetic carrier are configured to be received and to traverse along the length of the helical channel. This results in the cosmetic carrier being moved upwardly as the lugs traverse the length of the helical channel when a bottom portion of the inner sleeve is rotated. The decorative outermost sleeve is provided for aesthetic purposes. In operation, a bottom portion of the inner sleeve extends beyond the bottom of the outer decorative sleeve. The user rotates the bottom portion to cause the cosmetic carrier and, hence, the lipstick to extend from the case for applying the lipstick and to retract into the case for storage.
It is particularly desirable to provide a lipstick container having an inner sleeve which may be effortlessly rotated within the outer sleeve but which has enough torque to feel sturdy. The prior art includes several attempts at achieving the desired amount of torque, many of which experience significant shortcomings. For example, many are complicated, relatively expensive to manufacture, require exact tolerances, or experience wear over extended use thereby adversely effecting torque produced between the relatively rotating sleeves.